This was awesome. Made for a great audiobook. The author tells the stories of various runners and scientists to expound on his theme. Great storytelliThis was awesome. Made for a great audiobook. The author tells the stories of various runners and scientists to expound on his theme. Great storytelling; crazy quirky interesting caharacters; interesting story that may get you to shuck your shoes and go barefoot, or buy a pair of freaky Vibram five finger running shoes and head off into the canyons on trail runs, becoming one with the universe.

Or at least running a bit more.

The first third is straight up zany nonfiction Outdoor Magazine style adventure story. The story hits the ground running, as McDougall tries to find a mysterious running mountain man crazy white guy named Caballo Blanco in the backcountry of Mexico. Caballo Blanco is the way to learn more about the very reclusive and shy Tarahumara people of Mexico's mountains, a tribe of mysterious running superathletes who are renowned for being "the running people", commonly running 26-100 miles a day at high speeds. McDougall wants to learn more because he is continually getting injured when he runs, and from all reports he find and gets from the docs, humans aren't meant to be a running people.

McDougall then backtracks and shows the strange world of ultramarathoner athletes by describing the running lives of a few of them. Running is almost a zen like religion to some of these people; can running ultramarathons make you a better person? The next third of the book delves, in a pop science very readable way, into the science of running and feet and the evidence that humans are indeed a running people. A man who spends several years with a tribe of Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert features.

The final third describes "greatest race the world has never seen", with several ultra marathoners going to race with the Tarahumara in a crazy Caballo Blanco created race.

Fans of outdoor adventure tales, runners, and fans of narrative nonfiction popular science books such as Malcolm Gladwell's would all enjoy....more

I alternated between being riveted and disgusted/horrified by this book. I listened to the audiobook in my car, so I couldn't skim the gross bits. It'I alternated between being riveted and disgusted/horrified by this book. I listened to the audiobook in my car, so I couldn't skim the gross bits. It's quite the armchair travel read about Major Percy Fawcett, famous intrepid British explorer of the Amazon back in Victorian times. Man of iron constitution, kind of an a**hole to those of weaker constitution (and I relate more toward the weak), apparently very charming and good looking as well. Thoroughly obsessive. Must! Explore!

It's an interesting depiction of the state of explorations at the time and of a Victorian man; very contradictory aspects of self, but then times were rapidly changing. Fawcett disappeared in the 1920s on an expedition to find the fabled El Dorado-ish lost city of "Z" as Fawcett dubbed it, and author David Grann tries to find out what might have happened to him and whether there might be a Z. He's not the only one, an amazing number of people have died over the years trying to find Fawcett. At first I was blithely enjoying it, thinking of how much fun an expedition might be, and then the maggots and the vampire bats struck. Not to mention the sweat bees in eye pupils and diseases and bacterial ailments and murderous Indian tribes. Not that I blame the Indians; the horrific treatment they received from rubber baron companies and other whites is also detailed in this book. My god, I'm never traveling to the Amazon! These explorers were insane. Oh, the maggots. Grann's adventure is not as fascinating, but it provides an interesting denouement and depiction of how the Amazon is changing.

I liked it as much as Candace Millard's River of Doubt, about Teddy Roosevelt's trip where he traveled a previously unknown Amazon river - also a fairly disastrous trip - but if a patron had a weaker stomach and more of a taste for wildlife description, I'd point them toward Millard's book first....more

The story of an environmental scientist in Idaho's Sun Valley area who decides to embark on a home water conservation project. Hippie scientist explorThe story of an environmental scientist in Idaho's Sun Valley area who decides to embark on a home water conservation project. Hippie scientist explores water conservation options in the west, basically. The Sun Valley area only gets about 16 inches of rain a year, so the habits she had from east coast living didn't translate well after she moved to Idaho. She narrates her investigations of options and her scientific exploration of her and her husband's water use (installing meters in the house to try and pinpoint the use per device, for ex.). They focus on the "reduce, reuse, and recycle" mantra, in that order. She shares brief interesting and unreassuring details about water troubles and conflicts in various locales, like the declining aquifer in her area, Atlanta, Bolinas CA, and Las Vegas. It's a pretty good read for those interested in the topic who don't want a how-to book, though I wouldn't rate it as the most riveting narrative nonfiction I've ever read. I could see it going better if it had illustrations & drawings, would have been quirky & fun and would have fit the tone of the book well. The author's evidently also an artist.

She installs new toilets, dishwasher and washer & dryer, finds funky devices for the shower to lower their use (such as the Every Drop Shower Saver to pause water while soaping), explores graywater use options and laws, solar thermal system, weatherproofing her older house, irrigation options for their veggie beds and landscaping (this is a tough one), rainwater collection options, and her "water footprint" via food and consumer choices. She's a scientist so it gets pretty left brained at times - there's a lot of data entering as she gets involved in the minutia of calculating use and potential savings - but I skimmed those and happily read on about her hippie friends and outdoor solar shower adventures in the yard. The only disappointing part was the landscaping aspect. I would have liked much more investigation and details about that. Gardening is not her forte, ah well. ...more